"Two Poems"

"Two Poems"

Click the arrow on the audio player to hear Jane Hirshfield read this poem. You can also download the recording or subscribe to Slate's Poetry Podcast on iTunes..

Alzheimer's

When a fine, old carpet is eaten by mice, the colors and patterns of what's left behind do not change. As bedrock, tilted, stays bedrock, its purple and red striations unbroken. Unstrippable birthright grandeur."How are you," I asked, not knowing what to expect."Contrary to Keatsian joy," he replied.

The Kind Man

I sold my grandfather's watch,its rosy gold and stippled pattern to be melted.Movement unreparable.Lid missing. Chain—there must have been one—missing.Its numbers painted with a single, expert bristle.I touched the winding stembefore I passed it over the counter.The kind man took it,what I'd brought him as if to the Stasi.He weighed the honey of time.

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Jane Hirshfield's sixth book of poetry, After, was named a "best book of 2006" by the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Financial Times.

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